Stolen Flyght – Chapter 27

I’m giddy with excitement, watching the drama unfold around me. Everyone is on the edge of their seats, their attention intense and ready. I’ve seen this bridge before in quiet times, and the contrast to now is sharp. The Lees mean business.

Asteria stands by Hera’s side, her feet spread and arms clasped behind her back.

“Mom, we’re being hailed by the BSMC Rousseff. They’re telling us to stand down and leave orbit.”

Hera lifts an eyebrow. “Tell the military not to approach and that I’ll leave when I’m good and ready.” She raises her voice to her crew. “Start the countdown for the jump retreat.”

“Countdown initiated. T minus six minutes and thirty-five seconds to jump,” Asteria says. “I need to get to my ship.”

She runs to the bridge door, and I can see her sprint off down the hall before the door closes.

Six minutes? Six minutes is all I have to get everyone up, out, and ready for rescue?

This is it. I have to go back.

As soon as I think it, the rubber band tightens, and I’m pulled through the ship and upper atmosphere at a blinding rate. The air around me glows bright orange and rages as if it’s on fire. But looking out at the horizon, I don’t see the sun yet.

I look up as I zoom away, and with a few more seconds of distance from the Lee home ship, I can see they’re entering Neve’s atmosphere and glowing red hot.

When Hera Lee said they were coming in hot, she meant it.

I’m almost back to my body. Just a few more moments, and I can wake up and tell everyone to evacuate the cave.

Then a cone of light, about a kilometer away, passes over the snowy landscape and alights on the Amagi. I catch sight of the military search-and-rescue vehicle hovering over the Amagi before the cave rushes up, and I inhale from my own lungs.

“We have to go,” I say, sitting straight up.

Skylar squeaks and jumps away from me. Jinzo’s head whips around. One by one, Lia, Carlos, and Eamon turn from the cave’s entrance. Nina’s face is tipped up at the sky. Gloria isn’t moving except to breathe.

“We have to go now,” I stress, grabbing my bag and anything else I can carry. “They’ve found the Amagi, and our rescue is on their way.”

Jinzo runs to the cave’s entrance to join Nina.

“Who’s coming?” Skylar asks, grabbing her bag. “We heard a loud explosion just a moment ago. Jinzo and I stayed behind to watch you.”

“Hera Lee is coming, and she’s coming in hot.”

Skylar’s eyes widen. She leaps over the cave stones to look out with everyone else. I run up behind her.

The night sky is lit up in orange and red as the Lee home ship continues its fast descent through the atmosphere.

Jinzo grabs my arm. “It’s just like my dream.” His awed voice is muffled by his mask. He turns back to the sky, his eyes wide with wonder. Whether it’s from seeing his prescient dream come true or watching the Lee home ship fall from the sky above him is another question.

“I’ve never seen a ship that big hit atmo like that.” Nina is also stunned, her mouth open. She blinks out of her thoughts and trains her binoculars on the frozen tundra from which we came. “Yep. We’re going to have company in a few minutes. We’ve gotta go.”

Everyone moves fast. We extinguish the fire, pack up our rations, and grab anything else we don’t want to leave behind.

I throw my extra layers of clothes on and remove the ice pack from Gloria’s leg while Jinzo roots around in his bag.

“Where is it?” he mumbles before laughing and turning his head to me. “Good thing you packed the one you like best.” He opens his pack, and our favorite sex toy is right there among all the other clothes I threw into the bag. I snort a short laugh. I didn’t even check the bag before I packed it.

“But I’m looking for this.” Jinzo pulls out a small pack of signal flares. “I thought ahead.”

When I grab a handle of Gloria’s stretcher, I’m amazed by how great I feel. The last few months of stress and fatigue are gone, and my body is light and pain-free. Everyone else looks like they’ve been hit by a tractor, but I could run a marathon. If I liked running. Which I do not.

Thank you, Vivian’s plant. I’ll have to name it as soon as possible.

“Let’s go!” Nina barks, taking another handle of the stretcher. “Out and to the left! We’ll circle past the ridge and hide there while we call for help.”

I turn my head to say a comforting word to Gloria, but she is out cold. That can’t be good.

We hustle as fast as we can over the rugged terrain, and I try to keep my eyes on the ground in front of me instead of on the sky. Sonic booms explode and roll over the snowy fields, sending my heart into a panic.

“We’ve got ships incoming!” Jinzo shouts, urging us along.

“Military or Lee?” I shout back.

“That’s the Lee home ship?” Nina’s voice breaks.

“Both!”

The scream of engines grows louder, even though it’s hard to hear over my heavy breathing. We round the ridge of stones Nina referred to earlier and set Gloria down in a safe spot.

With a shattering boom and a burst of light, the Lee home ship disappears, and a gust of wind knocks us over.

“Wow. I had no idea ships that big could jump from planetary orbit like that,” I say to Jinzo, getting to my feet.

“Mom’s a bit of a show-off. She likes to remind the military that they’re not the only game in town.”

His eyes search the sky.

“Military search-and-rescue is coming in from the right.” He points to the ship I saw over the Amagi. “We’ve got ground troops incoming from the direction of the base.”

Nina grabs her binoculars, lifts her mask, and trains her attention in that direction.

“Fuck. It’s loaded with armaments.”

“What?” I can barely breathe.

“Yeah. Missiles and automatic machine guns. They mean business.”

“Jin!” I squeak out.

“Don’t worry.” He points again at the sky. “They’re right there.”

His lips move behind his mask, counting down to his moment to act. He jumps to his feet, points the flare into the sky, and fires it. The bright burst of light arcs up and away.

“Get ready to run.” He picks up a handle of Gloria’s stretcher, and everyone who hadn’t carried her exchanges with someone who has.

I crouch in a ready stance and keep my eyes on the horizon. The sky is lightening now, warming from the blackness of night to a pink dawn. With the new day will come new challenges.

I’m ready for them.

Nina uses her binoculars again. “It’s looking good. Our rescue ship will be here first. Ready?”

The scream of engines overhead from our rear flattens us to the ground. A military ship, flown in from over the mountains, catches us off guard.

“No!” Skylar yells.

Our rescue ship doesn’t flinch, though. They power up every outside light, and the military ship swings wide to avoid them.

Our ship touches down first, hitting the ground with a thump and slide.

“Yes! Go!” Jinzo laughs and urges us all into a sprint across the snow.

All I hear is my breath in the mask and the crunching of snow under my feet as we pound the plain and run for the ship. People stream out of the cargo bay ramp, running to meet us.

Jinzo hands off his end of the stretcher to… That’s Gus!

“Vitals!” Gus yells.

“Broken leg. Possible infection. Fever!” Jinzo reports.

Gus nods. “Where’s Vivian?”

Jinzo points to me, a few meters shy of the rear of the stretcher. Gus hesitates for a fraction of a second. He wants to come to me, but I’m upright and running, and Gloria is not. She’s the priority.

I grab Skylar’s hand and urge her forward. The shuttle is not far away now.

The ground behind us erupts and lifts into the air. Skylar and I fly upward, flipping and falling. Oof. I’m on the snow and sliding to a stop before I can blink. My ears ring, and my head spins. I don’t even have my mask on anymore.

What the…?

Someone crouches over me. His hands touch my body from head to toe as I lay dazed and confused. Then he signs.

“You’re okay. I’m going to pick you up. Don’t breathe.”

Mat.

He lifts me into a fireman’s carry, throwing me over his shoulder and running for the shuttle. My bag bounces against me, so I grab it and hold on. Skylar is right behind us. She’s holding her arm, but her mask is still secured to her face.

I close my eyes and concentrate on taking smaller sips of air instead of long gulps. My head lightens as Mat runs me into the ship. He sets me down, and someone secures a mask to my face.

“Let’s go! They’re all on board!”

The cargo bay door closes, and an explosion outside of the ship rocks us back and forth. I try to flip over so I can see what’s happening in the cargo bay. Where’s my team? Where’s Skylar? She was hurt. I get my hands on a support bar to turn me over when the craft lurches into the air and throws anyone not strapped down to the floor. I roll and come to a stop when Mat flings his arms around me. His grip tightens, securing me in place. His body language says, “Don’t move. I’m holding you for your own good.”

I squeeze him back and stay where I am. I don’t want to get pummeled anymore.

“We’ve reached atmospheric pressure on the ship, and oxygen levels have returned to normal,” the ship’s AI announces over the cargo bay speakers. “You may now remove your masks.”

Mat releases me from his death grip enough to take off his mask and then take mine off too. He huffs a frustrated breath, takes my face between both his hands, and looks into my eyes.

“I know,” I say. “I know. I’m okay.”

He brings my face to his and fiercely kisses me, then presses his cheek to my forehead.

I push myself up to standing and distribute my weight between my spread feet. Mat follows me.

Skylar is close by. A medic is squeezing liquid stitches onto her arm, and she’s pressing a piece of gauze to her head.

“Sky, are you okay?” I grasp her knee and squat down at her side.

“Just got clipped by the fallout from that explosion.” She pulls the gauze away from her forehead and looks at it. “Can you believe they fucking shot at us? We should sue them into oblivion.”

“We should.” My voice is grim. There are so many things wrong with this situation. First, the military has no right to be shooting at civilians on Neve. Neve is not a military planet, and we were outside the base. Even if they suspect we were in the base, they still have no reason to kill us. They are overstepping their purview by about ten light-years.

I reach over and squeeze Mat’s hand. “I need to check on everyone. Can you please sit with Skylar for a few minutes?” I sign to him that she’s my cousin, and I’m worried about her. I know that if Skylar heard me say that out loud, she would roll her eyes and tell me she’s fine.

Mat nods, sits down next to her, and offers her a hand to hold. Her smile is equal parts amused and annoyed, but she puts her hand in his, anyway. My heart lightens a tiny bit.

On the other side of the bay, Gus and two medics are working on Gloria. His focus is intense as he threads a needle into her arm and gets an IV started. The other medics scan her leg and pour over a datapad of the results. Nina stands about five paces away and watches her son work. She directs all her attention to his every move, nodding when he does something and chewing on the inside of her cheek.

I cross the room to them. “Hey,” I say to Gloria, coming to her side and taking her hand. It’s way too hot, but I hold on to it. “They’re going to take good care of you. Try not to worry.”

She presses her lips together and nods, her eyes welling with tears.

I lean in close to her. “It’s okay to cry. We’re out of danger now.”

Tears stream from Gloria’s eyes as if she has lifted the dam. Giving her permission to feel afraid was what she needed. I cry with her, and when I raise my eyes to look at Gus, his expression is grave.

“We’ll get her fixed up. I promise.”

The cargo bay door opens, and Asteria enters. Her eyes search the room until she sees Jinzo. They both run to each other and hug.

“Where’s Vivian?” she asks, pulling away from her brother.

I lift my hand to wave as I meet her, but she goes straight for the hug. I hug her back.

“Mom and I were so worried. Thank God you all made it out of there alive.”

She pulls away to arm’s length and squeezes my upper arms.

“Now, I hate to do this to you, after all you’ve been through. But you need to come to the bridge. Admirals are blocking our way home, and we should have a serious discussion about what we’re willing to do to get past them.”

Great.

I glance over my shoulder at Nina, and her eyes meet mine.

This may finally be the end of the line.

For all of us.